It's Official: MaGIC appoints Ashran Dato' Ghazi as new CEO

Ghazi was part of the founding team for social content networking site Joota and started the Rice Bowl Start-up Awards

Ashran Dato’ Ghazi

The Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Center (MaGIC) has officially announced Ashran Dato’ Ghazi as its next CEO, to replace departed Founding CEO Cheryl Yeoh, effective on May 1.

As reported on April 4 by e27, reports had been pointing towards Ghazi as being the man to step into the CEO position, but the decision had not been officially confirmed at that time.

“Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, Secretary General of Treasury who is also Chairman of MaGIC, believes that Ashran will lead MaGIC to greater heights and fulfil the mandate given to MaGIC to further enhance the entrepreneurship ecosystem and create visibility as well as opportunities for local entrepreneurs within the region and globally,” the statement from MaGIC communication staff read.

After the departure of Yeoh in January, the appointment of her replacement had become one of the most watched vacancies in the Southeast Asian startup world — in large part because of Yeoh’s success in making MaGIC a leading organisation in Malaysia’s burgeoning startup scene.

Ghazi, like Yeoh, was in the US at the University of Michigan where he received a Bachelor of Business Administration (Finance and CIS).

His professional career began in the Oil and Gas industry but his entrepreneurial experience comes from the founding of Joota, a social content networking website, in 2011. Recently, he launched ComicXcel, an accelerator for companies trying to start up in the comic sector and is the man behind the Rice Bowl Start-Up Awards.

Additionally, he has experience leading organisations as the Chairman of New Entrepreneurs Foundation (myNEF), the Chairman of myHarapan, the President of the Bumiputera ICT Industry & Entrepreneurs (NEF) and finally as the Deputy Chairman of the Global Innovation & Entrepreneurship Foundation.

He has served on the boards of the Malaysian SME Development Academy and SME Corp.